Two years later

We spent this morning touring the area where I worked responding to Hurricane Katrina two years ago. Two years ago I daily worked to help a community come to grips with death and destruction. There was the despair. There was the overwhelming task of facing loss as strangers reached out to help the locals.
The heat, the humidity, the debris, the destruction together assaulted our efforts every day. Initially, we could only offer water and limited food to those who lost so much. Where do they start was asked in those days. What can we do seemed like an unanswerable question. Why did this happen was another. So many questions, so few answers.
I know our nation responded. I know so many offered their prayers. So many offered the money they could share so that those of us that had the time to go and extend to the victims the intangibles of love and caring. We could offer them hope and help put their world back together.

Today, Veterans Boulevard was an ordinary business thoroughfare. Traffic moved along accessing the open stores, stopping at traffic lights - all the normal activities you might expect. Without water, electricity, communication systems nothing was functioning 2 years ago. The broken windows, the toppled signs, the flooded buildings prevented any normal activities. In fact police broke into some businesses to gain access to needed supplies and equipment.
The normal routine today is a tribute to resiliency and optimism. Those who had the qualities led the charge to the normalcy we saw today.
The Motel 6 severely damaged in the storm had restored one room to use before I left 2 years ago. The motel manager offered the use of that room to the Red Cross out of his appreciation for what the volunteers were doing. I was allowed to spend one night in that room out of consideration for the hours I worked in the sun each day. The humidity and the lingering smell of mold were small distractions when an offer is made to sleep in a real bed instead of a metal bunk.
Today the Motel 6 is a normal motel doing business as usual. It, like so many examples on Veterans Boulevard, serves as a tribute to man's ability to respond to adversity. No one can overcome a challenge of this magnitude by himself. Collectively we can solve anything that threatens our survival.
Two years later normal life has returned to this area because people came together to make it so.